In Pursuit of Blackhawk Multi-cache
wzbt03: Archiving my remaining caches due to lack of will to maintain them.
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(regular)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
This my 100th hide!
I asked for and received help from the only other two cachers in Wisconsin who had hidden 100+ caches, The Lil Otter and BobCatW98.
BobCatW98 provided the starting puzzle as their part and The Lil Otter asked for a historical tie in and Waypoint 2 is one of her classic types of hides.
The Final is fairly easy and contains some fairly nice items.
This area has always had a huge historical meaning to Wisconsin.
It started thousands of years ago with the Ice Age.
In the 19th century the white settlers encroached on Chief Blackhawk lands and took them over while he was off negotiating with the leaders of the white men.
When he returned he responded the only way he felt he could and went to war.
After much death and destruction the US Army proceeded to chase him north from Illinois and into Wisconsin in what has been called the Blackhawk War.
General Atkinson was the commander and in his pursuit he stopped his troops to camp near what is now Milton Wisconsin.
The following excerpt is from that camp:
"We here encamped by a small lake (S T _ _ _ _) this night, and had to drink the water, which was very bad, but it was all that could be found. Here a very bad accident happened. One of the sentinels, mistaking another that was on post, with a blanket wrapped around him, for an Indian, shot him just below the groin, in the thick of the thigh. At first the wound was thought mortal. I understood before I left the army that the man was nearly well. Here Gen. Atkinson had, on this night, breastworks thrown up, which was easily done, as we were encamped in thick, heavy timber. This was a precaution which went to show that he set a great deal by the lives of his men, and by no means was any mark of cowardice; for generalship consists more in good management than anything else.
The date was 7/ _ /_ _ 3 2.
The sentinel was placed in an area that O _ _ N _ D up and a large area viewed.
The rest of the army was placed in the woods near where trappers used to fill their Q U _ T _ S of pelts with ease.
Meanwhile General Atkinson had his _ C O _ _ _ out looking for Blackhawk thus S _ _ _ N G the majority of his troops for battle.
The continued the next day to advance through the northern part of the C O U _ _ _ chasing Blackhawk.
The rest of the war is history so to speak.
It was twelve years later that Joseph Goodrich built the Milton House as a frontier Inn. It was later used as part of the underground railroad and there is a tunnel from the main house to the Pioneer Cabin out back.
If you get a chance to tour the house I think you will enjoy the history.
It is currenty being renovated back to it original walls and condition.
Use this secret BobCat code to figure out where Waypoint two is - the Sentinel.
[+3] [+3] [+6] [+1] [+1] [+6] [+3] [+5]
[+2] [S ] [ 7] [O ] [Q ] [__] [S ] [C ]
[+1] [T ] [__] [__] [U ] [C ] [__] [O ]
[+0] [__] [__] [__] [__] [O ] [__] [U ]
[-0] [__] [__] [N ] [T ] [__] [__] [__]
[-1] [__] [ 3] [__] [__] [__] [N ] [__]
[-2] [__] [ 2] [D ] [S ] [__] [G ] [__]
[-3] [-1] [-3] [-5] [-4] [-2] [-6] [-5]
You can collect clues to help with the puzzle at:
N42 46.603
W88 56.171
Goodluck and enjoy the fun!
Cache seeker assumes all liabilities and risks associated with hunting this cache!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Jnlcbvag gjb'f anzr fubhyq or gur pyhr gb vg.